Why BJP lost Bihar polls – Post Mortem?

The Bihar results should not be taken lightly. Secularism must stay and mutual respect should prevail. Money and muscle will not stand anymore! There is every sign that Kalam’s dream will come true by 2020? Overzealous BJP bites the dust. A hammer hit to both Amit Shah and NaMo. Was it ever expected? Does it reflect on the working of Central Govt.? Will these results; now at least will seal the loudmouths in BJP? Should Shatrughan Sinha have been brought in? On the eve of counting day, Lalu said they would bag 150 seats. The result exceeded beyond their expectations. Shiv Sena refers Nitish Kumar as ‘Mahanayak’. Breaking year’s long alliance with BJP because of Modi becoming a face was a daring and well thought step. Had he been with BJP he would have either become a mute spectator of its stubbornness on Hindutva and intolerance or had to leave the party, both adding to his insult. Here in the results there is a life lesson that do not handshake in any circumstance for your own benefits else your values and morals will be at stake. In the long run, it’s the right path that’ll fructify any a compromise with your ideals will leave you embarrassed. It’s high time for Modi to wake up. Moreover, Sena should also realize the strength of uniqueness. Uddhav is humble like a seasoned politician like Nitish Kumar and Raj Thackeray is good orator like Lalu Prasad, if both the brothers unite then Maharashtra politics will have new equations. BJP can be taught a lesson.

Voters are increasingly showing a tendency to differentiate between different kinds of elections. They have started electing their representatives as per the horses-for-courses principle. This was clearly evident during the Delhi assembly elections. While the BJP won all seven seats during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it got an unexpected and unprecedented drubbing in the 2015 assembly polls and was able to win only three out of seventy seats. A general refrain among Delhi voters was that they preferred Narendra Modi as the PM but Arvind Kejriwal as the CM. Taking a cue from the Delhi elections, Nitish Kumar’s communications team under Prashant Kishore, who had advised PM Modi during the Lok Sabha polls but had joined hands with the Bihar CM for the assembly elections, was able to exploit this PM-CM dichotomy and brilliantly pegged it as a “Bihari vs Bahari” fight. Not surprisingly, Bihar showed greater preference for a Bihari.

Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha responsible for the Bihar poll debacle should be taken to task and responsibility fixed for the loss on him. Perhaps, the most decisive factor for the Grand Alliance was Nitish Kumar’s popularity among Bihar voters. Nitish Kumar emerged as the most popular chief ministerial candidate in almost all the surveys. The anti-incumbency factor has rarely ever been enough to win an election and voters have started rewarding a performing CM at a pan-India level. When Narendra Modi was Gujarat CM, Shivraj Singh Chouhan was Madhya Pradesh CM, Raman Singh was Chhattisgarh CM and Navin Patnaik was Odisha CM, all of them won their state elections on their individual popularity, even though their parties had mixed results in the Lok Sabha polls. By winning Bihar for the third time, Nitish has proved that a popular and performing CM can win state elections and buck the national trend.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comment on the need to have a rethink of caste-based reservation came at the most inopportune moment for the BJP. Bihar has always been the validating state for the saying “Indians don’t cast their vote but vote their caste”. Bhagwat’s remark on reservations was like a “free hit” for the Grand Alliance, with RJD chief Lalu Prasad calling it a forward vs backward contest. Though, the BJP repeatedly assured the people of Bihar that it would name an OBC as their CM after the elections, the damage had already been done.

Modi is surrounded by ‘yes men’. No one can dare to tell him that after becoming PM of India, he does not have to impress Indian by seeking attention of world business and political leaders. They were already impressed by his success in Gujarat and gave him big responsibility of running the country. For India’s common man, running water in taps is more important than non-stop ‘Wi-Fi’. Addressing issues of women safety, protecting children from child labour and women from uncontrolled harassment, finding solution of protecting our soldiers on border as every other day two or three soldiers are being martyred are serious issues rather than being digital India. Statements by BJP’s MPs which distorted communal harmony between the citizens and Modi’s silence on them give the impression that their statements are centre sponsored. Secured borders and administration without corruption were expected from Modi.

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It is going to be an uphill task for BJP and the PM to explain the humiliated defeat in Bihar polls. They should introspect themselves from scratch and analyze the reasons for their defeat in spite of blaming others and insulting voters. While PM Modi’s world tour giving him strong hands, I think sand erosion are taking place under his feet. The PM should set his priorities right whether he wants to improve the country or build foreign relationship. Whether he wants to meet Obama or meet the Aam aadmi of this country. Is rewriting history a priority? Can we ever write off the contributions of Nehru to independent India? Digital revolution was started by Sam Pitroda under Rajiv Gandhi. Let us not get into the Ostrich syndrome and learn to be more tolerant. There is definitely disconnection between what he preaches and practices. We have heard his speeches twice from the Red Fort but how many of his commitments have really seen action? Has any of his commitment reached to their logical conclusion?

Vaidehi Taman is an Investigative Journalist, Editor, Ethical Hacker, Philanthropist, and an Author. She is Editor-in-Chief of Newsmakers Broadcasting and Communications Pvt. Ltd. Since 9 years, which features an English daily tabloid – Afternoon Voice, a Marathi web portal – Mumbai Manoos, monthly magazines like Hackers5, Beyond the news (international) and Maritime Bridges. She is also an EC Council Certified Ethical Hacker, Certified Security Analyst and is also a Licensed Penetration Tester which she caters for her sister-concern Kaizen-India Infosec Solutions Pvt. Ltd.